Goods vehicles (lorries, HGVs, vans etc)

Lorries pose a disproportionate threat to cyclists and pedestrians, so reducing the danger and intimidation they pose is a key road safety issue, especially in urban areas.

Ways to tackle the problem include: maintaining and enforcing safe driving and vehicle standards; training and information for both cyclists and goods vehicle drivers; cycle-friendly vehicles and road layout; routing and distribution strategies that minimise conflict and the number of HGVs in towns and cities; and restricting access to busy urban streets at peak times.

Key facts:

In Great Britain, goods vehicles (excluding light vans) make up only around 3.7% of non-motorway traffic, but are on average involved in around a fifth of cyclists’ road deaths per year.

In urban areas, HGVs make up 2% of non-motorway traffic, and are involved in 24% of cyclists’ deaths.

In London specifically, where HGVs make up around 3.5% of traffic, almost half of the 44 cyclist fatalities between 2011-13 (inclusive) were as a result of a collision with a lorry. Of these 21, ten involved a collision with a left-turning lorry.

A cyclist is much more likely to die if they are in collision with a lorry than if they are in collision with a car: on average, cyclists are killed in around a fifth of serious injury collisions involving heavy goods vehicles, but in just over 2% of cyclist/car collisions.

On average, HGVs are involved in 14% of GB pedestrian fatalities per year.

CTC View (formal statement of CTC's policy):

Goods vehicles pose a disproportionate threat to cyclists. Action must be taken by national and local government, hauliers and fleet operators, the police, the Health and Safety Executive and other enforcement agencies, as well as by individual lorry drivers and cyclists themselves.

Lorries pose risk to both cyclists and pedestrians, so the focus should be on lorries and lorry drivers, not just on cyclists. Many of the following measures that would help protect cyclists, would benefit pedestrians too (NB these are not necessarily in priority order given the need for more research into their relative effectiveness – see below):

Ensuring that vehicles are safe and that drivers are fit to drive them. This needs to be supported by rigorous enforcement of driving and vehicle standards by the responsible agencies.

Training for cyclists to help them interact with goods vehicles as safely as possible.

Publicity campaigns for drivers and cyclists alike, highlighting the hazards and how to avoid them.

Designing and specifying lorries to provide clear direct vision between the driving position and any pedestrians or cyclists near to the vehicle, including fitting bigger windows. To complement this (or where better direct vision is genuinely impossible to deliver effectively), other safety devices should be specified and fitted, e.g.: sensors and alarms, in-cab cameras; mirrors/lenses; side guards; external warning signs; and intelligent speed adaptation.

Traffic management measures, routing and distribution strategies to mitigate the impact of lorries on places where people cycle or want to cycle. These include banning lorries on busy streets at certain times of the day while permitting night-time deliveries instead; establishing distribution centres on the edge of urban areas where lorries can pass loads onto smaller vehicles for onward delivery; and carrying more freight by rail and water.

Promoting freight cycles for goods distribution in urban areas.

Procurement policies, especially from public authorities, ensuring that the supply and delivery of goods and services takes the safety of vulnerable road users into account.

Research into the efficacy of all the above measures needs to be done, with the Department for Transport (DfT), Transport for London (TfL), other local authorities and operators all collaborating EU-wide, as required.

Individual haulage companies and the associations that represent them should develop, publish, maintain and monitor strategies, action plans and fleet management practices that minimise the risks goods vehicles pose to cyclists. Where appropriate, these should be produced jointly with local authorities and enforcement agencies and be based on consultation with cyclists’ representatives.